Puzzle



Jan. 15, 1935. ,G,YS. FROST 1,988,273

PUZZLE Filed April 23-, 1932 Yaw @jfq

ATTORNEY filo Patented Jan. 15, 1935 i 1,988,27&

reassure?) uzzes.

Ari it ms A ri 23,1 32, seminal sumac.

Y 2 Cla.i1 ns. (01. 27 3-453 :Mg-inventieri relate sl toi ar device thnature ef a puzzle; It consists of at least two,

relatively rumble. members. pr ferably 1 the form efparallel;ecirculairdiscs. e e-pr he. mew

consists of a 11150 havin PQ tiOQS: jQi blfl auteur qovering certainIetterS ten the firs tinneddise lwithdntermediate .Qt f certainselectedletters" at a tim ing 'tmthe, relative; transitions; various letterswillbe displa d 7 I91 W mat around the.- eire1e,.--may fermidiiie ent warvThe obieetis to manipulate the. fi ii m expose vari us'c mhinat ns'of 1utte s. t0 spel a us-words, .The devic very u u l advertising noveltyforthe. purpos etet ee ies attentionto some particular character orbusiness F r ins a ce'thenuzmemsy heerr nee 5.9 that v r us articl s ofurniture ma ee s el ed 91 i enth puz leem in 1ik e.;.niamie :name a i-inxany' ine 'oibusmess mayqhe h le e t- The arraneementzirnay she;suehr l-iatrenlteertam predetermined wgrds mag be spelled by anyposition of the discspthus adapting'tlie device to the names pft articles in a. particular lineof. busimess; I I l y 1 The device, has theappearance of being easily mastereiibu't unless one is informed of thekey upon which the arrangement '0; letters is predetermined, thelaetualselection tor finding :05 the various, words by .the empiricaltmethod isvery diflicult andrre quires considerable time.

It, isnqt necessarily intenglecythatnall o; the letters exposed at agiven relation of theadiscs be employed. in the iormatien of a. wordprovided the letters may be selected oiit of all of those exposed toview for; the iormati'pn qf g, particular word. However, itispreferable; that the operatorrbe required to find, all of the lettersof 8-, iven, word by reading progressively in one direction oncearound'the series-of letters. F01? instance, the opereter maybe requiredto find all of the letters of a iven w e by di evpro r s el -c Qc wisearound the puzzle. i e 1 The present de s very 's m le e dl inexpensiveto -inanufacture' and it arouses considerable interest in {view ofthe/extreme simplicity of the article. *Ifde'sir'ed, the various letterex- "pQsing-lv'iSDa Q :tQfiQDQiQifi? array: be. ieqieetee numerals, sothstarnerse rmey eha t 91 i 'binatiensig'f; letter and smim rels W. .rravnrodue :esivensembieetier to'-;=ferm a;'- particular ZWQI- If the: 29.

e". "i instane'egdistributes thedevieetoredveflisineits order nrecl1.1tsv an qiiers arise e Qi S RE Z mereheneise tee s: we se 9 WQXeetheinu-izleitli i the puzzle ma ale. ere liers peee eos .h l

wAl nd v ee is eels e vs medium. 1 trite eaths; Y e t-pear s .b we h ees ie w l @3 & eertieuler eer iiaee 5 teste s, w l b aetfiertli t itsseieiieii eesq nti i-r.

; nthe d ie ll il 29 e rest Qiteis made-re; I

emizzleemla eriee I 1 ,preferregli taker plgjgkie 1 Figure 2 is a,sectional view e Vie sites ii rie lthe eve elc e t Q Pi -itsem tu 911?ee ls i o llus ra e o each th r-hr eing; 1 ,v. te

emre' 'e sle which me ts he e i er end mrmi s 1 :1 elements were; andthe central eyelet forni the mech mple ethedevice l.

were} pressed the el hebet p ete lehl ier esei 1 s- L cular formconcentric with the eyelet 3 which attaches the discs together.Preferab1y,these various letters are all arranged uniform distancesapart around the circle and I have shown by radial lines '5 between theletters the individual spaces all of equal width, each spacecontaining asingle letter. in alphabetical order around the circle but are plottedand disposed in accordance with the predetermined plan as hereinafterreferred to. Generally therewill be a repetition of 'diiferent' lettersaround the circle in order to permit various combinations of letters tobe obtained for spelling 1a0rt.

different words.

The front or exposing disc 2 isprovided with' a number ofperipheralextensions 6 ext'ending' outwardly from the disc in spoke-likeformation;

and between the several projectionsa'r formed openings or slots 7 eachof which is adapted to.

expose to view a single, letter in the circle 4 of the rear disc, andtherefore I have shownthese slots of a width corresponding'with thespacing between the radial marking lines 5. on; the disc 1: WhileIprefer to make each of 'the 'slots- '7- of equal width -it is preferablethat at' least someof the projections be wider 'than' othei's, generallya multiple of'the width of the narrowest pro- 7 jectionsin order to makethe "solutionoffthe puzzle moredifllcult and fascinating. 1

In the example illustrated in the drawing 1 I have also shown aprojection 10 whichis.

threetimes the'width of the first mentionedprojectionb so that the*prbjectionlO will coveraup three adjacent letters '4 'at'a time;

In using the puzzle the discs will be moved relatively to each other,and for"conveniencej the larger or rear disc may beheld in one handwhile the-front disc is tumediwith the other hand;

The front disc may be turned to different'positions' bringing the slots7 of the front disc to register with theradiallines 5 of the rear'disc;whereupon various letters around the circle-will be exposed to viewthrough'the various slots"! 1 between the projections on the front disc.

; The operator will then 'start'to read the letters beginning at any;point, such as from the wider extension 10; reading the exposed lettersclock wise; and selecting certain letters for use and dropping others,to determine whether a particular word can be spelledout fromthe'exposed letters while the'discsare set'in a given position.

If nojword canJbe spelled out from the exposed letters, the front discmay. be moved'toa new positionfandthe operation-repeated. In order tofacilitate the charting of thepositionsof the discs when a'given word isspelled out, "I have arranged a series of radial lines lion-the frontdisc; corresponding with the edges of the several projections 6; 8, 9,'10 and the-spaces between these radial lines corresponding with theslots 'Z'have "been designated by various numerals 12 which are;preferably; not arranged innumeric'al order but scatteredaboutirregularly; as shown in" Fig]- 'ures 1' and4. j I The plotting ofthe letters ionthe' rear disc 1 'in'the drawing has been arranged topermit the spellin'glof twenty-five words representing articles bffumiture; Byway of *example; the discsare These letters 4 are notarranged the letter R at slot 22 and the letterT at slot'15; 1

thus completing "the spelling of the word-Daven- "It will be'noted thatin spelling out this word certain lettersof all those exposed have beenselected while 'rea ding progressively clockwise around'the circle,"whereas other letters exposed the word have been ignored.

The operator having succeeded informingv the word Davenport; =he Or -shemay 1 'chart ,uthe position ofthe-discs with this.-word spelled out,either for the'purpose of-being able to again ire-'1 turn the "dials t'othe same positionior for the purpose of proving that the operator hassuccessfully spelled this word out. i Whenthe' words have been chartedin this-manner; if a'prizeior discount has been oife'red to thoseformingthe maximum number of words on the devlce; the operator may send inthe-chart with the positions plottedand 'i'eceive a prize. or discount.On the other hand, if tli'e device is used like a game; thecharting-'may be' followed inzorder to prove that the particularoperator has succeededin forming the several words. The following is 'a'key by which twenty-five jwords all representing articles of 'fumituremay be spelled out ln the 1 and-.whic ;,are not necessarytothe spellingof manner just described "in connection' with the word Davenport if theletters are arrangedin the manner shown in'Figur'e 3' and if theprojections 6, 8. 9, 10 on' the fron'tdisc are proportioned and arrangedas show n in "Figures 1 and 4. "I

'r A B 'L. EU "IBE Nfogjn 4 '6 1 22 9; -14 1 21.15 111' 'o L e c 11" onR P E"l" 11141210 18171691910 .fs T ovEfl snipe s" 14 20 10-2 1 18 4 o s19 14: ID A. -i E' -11 15 1914 1 L A M 12f 12 9 19 13 s .PR 1 N. v a 1014 10 2o p R ,G 31 1i cAwB I"N"E 14 7 6 1325 11 0 0 up 11' 19 14 a- =4 BD --'14 112-:

ion E s an 12 21 19 14 18 1 P I A'N'O' .14 1 3.11 9 -f D A v -I: :N I -0R r 9 1 1 2 31,

disc generally'containsrepetitions of the same letter, it requires moreor' lessmanipulation of the discs in order tospell out the severalwords.

For instance in the spelling of the wordDa'venport as shown' in Figure1, the slot .19. is.regis.e-

tered with the letter D. If the slot 19 were rege istered with adifferent letter D in the circle 4, the word Davenport could not bespelled out. It is obvious that the operator will have to manipulate thediscs many times to spell out a set of words. I estimate that if theoperator is not provided with the key it will takeseveral hours to spellout the twenty-five wordsgiven in the above key. By having some of theprojections on the forward disc of multiple width it increases thedifficulty of spelling out the words.

As stated above, the device. is very simple in construction. Whileapparently simple to operate, considerable time is required to positionthe discs for the spelling of difierent words, so that what appears tobe a simple matter proves to be difiicult and therefore fascinating.Various changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of thedevice without departing .from'the scope of the annexed claims.

I 1. A 'device of the class described, including relatively revolvablediscs, one of which has let-.

ters circularly arranged and in non-alphabetical sequence, the other ofsaid discs having portions forming teeth for simultaneously coveringsome" of the letters of said first mentioned disc and having interveningspaces to simultaneouslyexpose certain of the letters on said firstdisc, said second disc having teeth which are a multiple of the width'of said first teeth, and having still another tooth or teeth having awidthof a great-- er multiple of said first teeth.

2. A device of the class described, includin relatively revolvablediscs, one of which has letters circularly arranged and innon-alphabetical sequence, the other of said discs having portionsforming teeth for simultaneously covering some of the letters of saidfirst mentioned disc and having intervening spaces to simultaneouslyexpose certainof the letters of said first disc, said second disc havingteeth which are a multiple of the width of said first teeth, and havingstill another tooth or teeth adjacent thereto having a width of agreater multiple of said first teeth.

GEORGE S. FROST.

